This application is based upon German application Serial No. 299 14 997.1 filed Aug. 25, 1999 from which priority is claimed.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to packaging and more particularly to plastic dispensing containers intended for storage and single dispensing of tablets and other regularly shaped small candy and medicinal products.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, there have been a number of so-called plastic or polymeric medical tablet dispensing packages frequently in the form of screw-topped tablet bottles having various so-called childproof tops. Since typical screw caps for these containers have been rounded to facilitate rotational removal and reapplication to the container, the container itself is usually cylindrical in outline. There have also been more or less rectangular small candy containers of various sorts. Most of these containers have involved multiple parts and have been relatively expensive to produce as well as assemble if not made in one piece.
The present inventor has previously developed a dispensing container comprised of a generally rectangular container having a sealing cap connected to the container body by a thin film hinge manufactured preferably as a unit in a simple injection molding step. The sealing cap has an open chamber in one side designed to be just large enough to accommodate one or two tablets or candies, which when the sealing cap is opened by pivoting it outwardly, enables the tablet or candy to be dispensed from the open side of the sealing cap. The sealing cap or hinged sealing cap of this previous invention is provided with extensions that pass over a longitudinal internal rib in the container as the sealing cap is pivoted open or closed providing both catches to hold the cap open in either of two positions or closed and also providing a distinctive clicking sound that advises the user of the position and operation of the sealing cap.
While the present inventor""s prior dispensing container has proven very satisfactory and has considerable commercial appeal, it has been found to have some minor previously unrecognized disadvantage including interference of the longitudinal rib with the otherwise open interior of the container, complications in the injection molding operation and the like which generally increase the cost. Complications in filling and handling the containers during filling with tablets and candy are also encountered. The longitudinal rib also takes significant space within a small container so that only flat tablets or very small elongated candies can negotiate the narrow rib area in the box. There is a need, therefore, for an alternative arrangement for providing the sealing or closure cap of a small dispenser box with means for retaining the sealing cap, which is integrally connected to the main portion of the dispenser, preferably by a socalled thin film hinge, in various open or closed positions. The present inventor has provided a dispensing container, therefore, with several embodiments of closure cap retention means that take up a minimum amount of room within the storage portion of the container itself and carry the major portion of the retention mechanism within the dispensing cap of the container such that the cap may be easily provided with definite open and closed positions and, if desired, intermediate positions. The dispensing container may be made in one piece, but will usually have a two piece construction.
In addition, while the previous invention disclosed in German Application WDP 96/33927 has the advantage of being formable in a single step, because the thin film hinge is located on a side wall of the container, such single step construction is not adaptable to having the thin film hinge on other portions of the structure of the container such as the top, because the tool of the formation process cannot be withdrawn from the container at the completion of forming unless the entire end of the container can be opened. This, however, requires the closure cap used to close the end to be as large as the top of the container. By use of the constructions of the present invention, however, the pivoting closure cap can be pivoted on a thin film hinge from the upper end or top of the container which is particularly convenient in larger containers where it may not be desirable to have the entire end of the dispensing container pivot open. This also provides a smaller major arc of movement for the cap as well as a lighter cap, whereby the rigid structure of the previous cap retention system is no longer necessary. By use of the presently disclosed arrangements for controlling the opening of the side dispensing closure cap such cap can be made as small or large as desired.
It is an object of the invention, therefore, to provide an improved dispensing container having a pivoting sealing cap the position of which is controlled by at least two catches in an arcuate portion of at least one side of the dispenser cap to control the dispenser in at least two positions, namely a closed position and a dispensing position.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide an improved dispensing container having a dispensing cap attached to top of the body of the dispenser by a thin film hinge, the cap having two controlled positions, plus an uncontrolled filling position.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a dispensing container having a pivoted side dispensing cap designed to close an opening less than the diameter of the container itself and incorporating a catch arrangement which securely holds the cap in position on the container in several positions.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a dispensing container that can be made in several parts if it is desired to have the dispensing cap hinged other than from one of the side walls.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a dispensing container having a pivoting dispensing cap secured to the top of the body of the dispenser by a thin film hinge and guided in and out of the dispenser from and to dispensing position by an arcuate tongue at the end of the dispensing cap plus a raised protrusion on at least one side of the container near the top in line with an arcuately arranged series of depressions in the side of the dispensing cap, which depressions, when the cap is pivoted, mate with the protrusion on the side of the container near the top to hold the cap temporarily in any position for which there is a suitable depression.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a dispensing container having a pivoting dispensing cap secured to the body of the dispenser by a thin film hinge and guided in and out of the dispenser from and to the dispensing position by an arcuate tongue at the opposite end of the dispensing cap from the thin film hinge plus a protrusion adjacent the top of the side wall of the container which interengages with at least two raised protrusions on the guide tongue to maintain the dispensing cap in open and closed positions.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a dispensing container having a pivoting dispenser cap attached to the container by a thin film hinge and having a protrusion at the edge of one side of the container and with an arcuate guide tongue extending into the container opposite to the thin film hinge, the guide tongue being provided at the side adjacent the protrusion in the container with at least two depressions which interengage with the protrusion from the wall of the dispensing container to hold the dispensing cap in at least a closed and a fully open position.
It is a still further broad object of the invention to provide a dispensing container having a side dispensing cap pivoted upon a thin film hinge with the container which is provided with means to hold the cap in at least the closed and open dispensing positions by means of at least one protrusion on the side wall or end wall of the container which interengages with at least two depressions in the body of the pivoting dispenser cap.
It is a still further broad object of the invention to provide a dispensing container having a side dispensing cap pivoted upon a thin film hinge from the top of the container and an arcuate guide tongue and having a protrusion on the side or end wall of the container which at least partially interengages with at least two protrusions from or on the arcuate guide tongue.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a dispensing container having a side dispensing cap pivoted upon the container from a thin film hinge and having an arcuate guide tongue and having at least two normal positions effected by interlocking protrusions and depressions on the container and dispensing cap in which the container can be formed in two interlocking parts or units.
Additional advantages and aspects of the invention will become evident from review of the attached drawings and accompanying explanation.
This invention provides an improved dispensing container having a pivoted hinged sealing or closure cap arranged to be easily flipped open by pressing with the thumb or finger of one hand. The sealing cap, which is pivoted to the container by a thin film hinge, is provided with a side chamber which carries one or two tablets. The degree of opening of the dispensing cap is determined by how far the sealing or closure cap is moved toward several cap positions determined by interaction or engagement of a protrusion extending from the edge of the container with either several depressions in the pivoting sealing cap or protrusions from the sealing cap. Preferably the sealing cap is pivoted from the end or top of the container rather than from one side of the container and for this reason the container and sealing cap attached to one end will in such cases be formed in a two step process to allow the tool of the forming process to be withdrawn after formation. The two sections are then adhered or attached to each other in any convenient manner. Similar dispensing cap opening control arrangements may be included in a dispensing container with a side pivoted sealing cap, however, and the container made in a one step process. The interlocking of the cap and the container in at least a closed and an open, or dispensing, position may be effected by having protrusions on the large side walls and suitably positioned depressions on either the side of the closure cap or the side of an arcuate guiding tongue which is used to close one side of the dispensing cap as well as guide the dispensing cap into the container, or may be effected by interengaging protrusions from small side wall of the container an the outer surface of the guiding tongue.